We got a special order to make an 8mod sport boat upgrade. The boat is not a normal 8 meter one design, it has a slightly longer carbon mast and a retractable bowsprit.
The task was to make as optimal mainsail and jib as possible for lighter wind sailing.
Mainsail
As the customer is open to make a split-backstay, I chose a squarehead mainsail with a pretty big roach to gain more sail area and keep the higher aspect ratio. The sail is designed with six full battens and three reefs for higher wind sailing.
The flying shape is somewhere in the middle. I didn't want to flat and neither too full sail as it could happens that hard to open the top so ended up at a nicely useable cursing/racing sail.
To choose the material was a longer process, finally we chose a membrane construction with double sided taffeta and technora fibers.
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| The three reefs |
Jib
The customer view's was a flatter jib. The old one was a nice flat, but with a very strange luff curve. Now I chose to have as big roach as possible just to fit into the spreader clearance in any conditions. The sail is stiffened by three vertical leech battens as it is a furling jib.
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| Jib fiber layout |
These two sails can work together very well, the main is easy to use and gives enough power in lighter winds too.
